iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual

You know how there are some actors whom you can trust re part of a great movie. If they are in it, you know it's good. Take Tom Hanks: practically anything he is involved in tends to be a great movie (expect of course for "Joe and the Volcano"). David Pogue and the Missing Manual series are the Tom Hanks of the technical publishing world. Even their mediocre stuff rises head and shoulders among the competition. "iPod & iTunes" is no exception to the long string of quality and informative manuals. In particular, I was impressed with the flow of the book. Too often new iPod users feel they have to buy music from the iTunes Music Store to use their iPod and directly bypass their legal CD collection. Biersdorefer doesn't introduce the iTunes music store until chapter 7. She logically starts with the iPod itself and the proper care and maintenance thereof, making sure new users can properly use and understand their iPod before they even hook it up to the computer. The book then moves from the iPod hardware to installing the software, adding songs, photos, and videos. After the user understand all that he then introduced the music store along with advanced concepts like using the iPod as an external hard drive. Finally, she introduces basic and advanced troubleshooting. Other books I've read on iPods organize their concepts based on themes such as hardware and software, rather than the actual flow of how a user might use their iPod. While you can easily pick up any chapter and learn something, beginner iPod users would be best serviced starting at, well, the beginning (how's that for straightforward logic?). Throughout the book, Biersdorefer uses extensive pictures and screen shots to illustrate the concepts described. I'm always impressed when an author does this, because not everyone likes to sit in front of a computer learning something. Good visuals help a reader learn a concept while not sitting at the computer. In addition, her explanations are clear and easily understandable without requiring knowledge of technical jargon. Biersdorefer also included just about every iPod tip and trick I know such as all the idiosyncrasies of photo formats the iPod can display and how to put DVDs on iPods. I honestly can't think of a single iPod concept the beginner or intermediate iPod user needs to know that isn't covered in this book. While I consider myself an iPod expert, I still learned a thing or two and would recommend this to basic users as a book to read cover to cover to understand how to use an iPod. Intermediate users can use this manual as a reference for tools or procedures they don't often do and don't want to rely on the whim of internet searches. For example, I know I can use my iPod to do iPod presentations but I probably won't remember how to do it until my new presentation. Biersdorefer covers the topic extensively so all I have to do is pick up his book. The only iPod concepts this book doesn't cover is adv

I agree this is the manual that should have been packed with the ipod. Outstanding information, some details of tricks that can be done espically if you are using an Apple computer. Still for those Windows people it is very worth while especially if you are having issues trying to do some particular task. What was a real surprise to me is there are several iPods that have different functionality, and those differences are seldom explained, this bood does a fair job on those. But I have discovered that the iPod I have is very unique, and will not support many of the newer features and accessories, even though it is less than 3 years old. I will be watching for the next version of this book to see if there is more enlightment on the compatability issue.

So you've got your shiny new iPod, and want to know what exactly you can do with it. Good luck with the "manual" that comes with it - you'll learn how to charge your iPod, how to install the software for it, and precious little else. That's why you need iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual. You get the basics (learning the controls), you learn the software (including setting up an iTunes account), and you learn what the thing does other than play music. Did you know, for example, that with a few tweaks your iPod can act as a digital address book and appointment calendar? It's true, as long as you've got Outlook 2003 on your PC, you can take your calendar anywhere you go. Too many pictures for your wallet? No problem: dump 'em onto your iPod and go. Wish you had a pin drive? Use that extra iPod space to store the files you need. This book shows you how. There's a valuable discussion of the various digital audio formats that you'll encounter, along with an explanation of why your new iPod can't play some of them. There's a guided tour of iTunes as well, though I'd have liked to have seen a bit more detail about making custom playlists and things like that. I found that I knew most of what was included in the first three sections of the book. Of course, I've been fiddling with my Nano since Christmas, so I've learned a lot just by trying things out on my own. The really valuable part of iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual for me was the fourth section - Extreme iPodding. Much of it, unfortunately, relies on you owning a Mac and being able to program in AppleScript, but there are some great shareware titles that are available for Windows systems out there, and this section tells you where to look. The troubleshooting section is also a great resource. Everything from resetting your iPod to replacing the battery (NOT something Apple wants you to do, by the way) is covered - including software updates for both iTunes and the iPod. This section all by itself is something that every iPod owner should be thankful for - and it's really something that Apple should have included with the iPod. iPod and iTunes: The Missing Manual is pretty basic in a lot of areas. Experienced iPodders should be taking a look at iPod and iTunes Hacks, also from O'Reilly. But if you are just starting out with your first iPod, this really is the book that should have come in the box, and you need to read it.

This is a great companion for my iPod, even though a fair chunk of the book is geared to folks with the newer gadgets. There is a good overview section on the different hardware models (the Shuffle gets its own chapter) to get you familiar with the players themselves, plus there's a great discussion of the different audio formats. I found that particularly useful since I wasn't clear on impacts of moving away from iTunes' native AAC format. The chapter on iTunes is pretty extensive and covers all the functionality from importing CDs to working wth playlists and the Music Store. There's a nice chapter on using the iPod as an external drive, a nice trick if you're looking for an extra place to back up that presentation you're travelling somewhere distant to make. I also liked the chapter on Hacks and Cool Tools with its good list of extra software you can find to help you do things like better manage your library and iPod or create your own podcasts. It would have been nice if the author covered the JHymn package which lets you back up your purchased music, but I can understand the hesitancy due to legality questions -- but it's my music that I bought and paid for, darnit! The author might also have given a quick nod to covering running presentations from your iPod, but that's a serious edge case so the utility of it in this book might have been marginal. This really is a nice book if you're at all interested in doing more with your iPod.

I got my fourth generation iPod used from someone who upgraded to a newer model -- thus I had no manual except what I could find online, which was insufficient. Basically, I started reading the Missing Manual from the beginning and went straight through! (If you have some idea what you are doing, you don't need to do that!) I keep it on my desk and refer to it fairly often. It has allowed me to do all sorts of really cool things with my iPod in addition to the usual things! I highly recommend this book.